Delhi High Court
Anita Singhvi vs New Delhi Municipal Council on 22 February, 2017
$~31.
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 1638/2017 and CM APPL. 7316-7317/2017
ANITA SINGHVI ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Joy Basu, Senior Advocate with
Mr. Sumit Chander and Mr. Abishek Tripathi,
Advocates.
versus
NEW DELHI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL ..... Respondent
Through: Mr. Arjun Mitra, Advocate with
Mr. Hardeep, Junior Assistant.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
ORDER
% 22.02.2017
1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner praying inter alia
for quashing/setting aside the order dated 06.10.2016 passed by the
respondent/NDMC under Section 72 of the NDMC Act, on the basis of a
notice issued on 21.03.2002, proposing to revise the existing rateable value
of the subject flat from Rs.24,354/- to Rs.5,10,000/-, with effect from
01.04.2001, on a comparable rent basis. By the impugned order, the
respondent/NDMC has revised the rateable value of the subject flat from the
Assessment Years 2001-02 to 2016-17.
2. Mr. Mitra, learned counsel for the respondent/NDMC opposes the
maintainability of the present petition on the ground that an efficacious
remedy of filing an appeal under Section 115 of the NDMC Act has not
been invoked by the petitioner.
3. Mr. Basu, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner
submits that the remedy of appeal cannot be treated as an alternate
efficacious remedy for the reason that the appellant would be expected to
make a pre-deposit of the property tax assessed for 14 assessment years,
which itself totals to a sum of Rs.13,45,280/-.
4. It is for the petitioner to consider the feasibility of challenging the tax
assessed for the base year before the Appellate Authority on making a pre-
deposit of the tax payable for the said year. However, this Court declines to
entertain the present petition directly, when the petitioner has a statutory
remedy of an appeal available to her.
5. Counsel for the respondent/NDMC states that as and when the
petitioner files an appeal before the competent authority, the NDMC
reserves its right to invoke the provisions of Sections 116 and 117 of the
NDMC Act and oppose the same on the grounds of limitation.
6. The petition is disposed of alongwith the pending applications with
liberty granted to the petitioner to file an appeal.
7. It may be noted here that petitions assailing property tax assessment
orders have been filed before this Court in the recent past, wherein the
respondent/NDMC has been passing orders under Section 72 of the NDMC
Act in respect of notices that were issued to assesses over a decade ago. It is
most unacceptable and inequitable that the said notices have been kept
pending for several years without any justification. In this duration, the
status of the properties in question could have changed as also the ownership
thereof. Once the said notices are adjudicated, the respondent/NDMC is
quick to raise a demand at one go on the assesses, that relates to a number of
assessment years and runs into lakhs of rupees. This results in harassing and
unnecessarily burdening the assessee who is left struggling to arrange the
funds to meet the deadline of the pay by date or end up paying interest on
the delayed payment, apart from facing other legal consequences
contemplated in the Statute.
8. Learned counsel for the respondent/NDMC has been called upon to
explain the reason and the logic behind keeping such notices pending for
several years together when they ought to have been disposed of in a
reasonable period. He states that he has shared the views expressed by this
Court on earlier occasions, with the Department.
9. While refraining from passing any adverse orders against the
respondent/NDMC for the present, it is made clear that if the NDMC does
not mend its way by deciding pending notices issued under Section 72 of the
NDMC Act within a reasonable time of one year from the date of issuance,
on the next occasion that may arise, the Court will be compelled to issue
directions to the NDMC to streamline the entire procedure and make it time
bound.
A copy of this order be placed before the Chairperson, NDMC for
perusal.
HIMA KOHLI, J
FEBRUARY 22, 2017
rkb/mk/ap
